Bill Fennelly's brimming with gratitude
Iowa State's longtime head women's basketball coach got emotional when describing what his team's fans mean to him after the young Cyclones toppled No. 4 Baylor Saturday at home.
AMES — Bill Fennelly’s voice cracked just a wee bit.
(The above photo is courtesy Iowa State Athletics Communications)
It’s a somewhat common occurrence for the venerable Iowa State women’s basketball coach, who’s in his 29th season at the Cyclones’ helm. Fennelly, who grew up in Davenport, wears his heart on his sleeve. He’s fiery and reflective; philosophical and competitive. He wants to win and usually does, as he’s guided the program from utter irrelevance to national prominence, piling up Sweet 16s and Elite Eight appearances along the way.
And Saturday after ISU toppled No. 4 Baylor, 66-63, before a remarkably large, but relatively small crowd at Hilton Coliseum because of blowing snow and downright dangerous weather conditions, Fennelly found a new gear. He looked like a kid as his freshmen-laden team celebrated near midcourt, sweeping his fist toward the otherwise bleak sky before scampering off the floor with surprising speed.
Fennelly’s still got it. The itch. The drive to excel — and commands the same from his players.
Freshman center Audi Crooks, formerly of Algona Bishop Garrigan High School, absolutely starred against the mighty Bears, pouring in 23 points in 26 minutes and her ear-to-ear postgame grin proved that, yeah, Fennelly’s still got it.
“I think what Audi’s done is something that’s unique for us,” said Fennelly, whose team is tied with No. 12 Kansas State atop the Big 12 standings. “We haven’t had a powerful low-post player here in a long time — maybe ever. But I think the thing with Audi is she plays hard, she wants to be coached hard, she loves her teammates, she plays with a joy that a lot of young people don’t. And I would say the impact she’s making on the court for us is nothing compared to the impact she’s gonna make on this university. I really believe that she’s a unique person. She’s a unique personality.”
So is Fennelly, who is as good a quote I’ve been around in 25-plus years of sports journalism. I can’t count the number of times he’s saved my bacon on deadline because of a great quote that allowed me to write a solid story in a brief amount of time. He’s a great lede waiting to happen — and he’s a leader that will be missed when he finally retires.
That’s because Fennelly not only has it. He gets it. What he’s done at ISU is remarkable, but it’s largely based on myriad fans buying into his brand of basketball; his approach to the game.
So when maybe 5,000 fans of roughly 9,500 who paid for tickets to Saturday’s game actually showed up despite the weather and helped the Cyclones over the hump against Baylor, he choked up a little.
As he should. Fennelly said he never takes the crowd for granted. It’s why he framed the printed box score from his first game as the Cyclones’ head coach against Idaho State in 1995, where by the word “attendance” the number read “310.”
“I told the players before the game (Saturday) we wanted to do two things,” Fennelly said. “Number one, make sure that the people walked out of here saying it was worth coming. And number two, the people that couldn’t make it would say, ‘Dang. I wish I would have been there for that one.’ And I think we did both.”
That they did, coach. That they did.
NOTE: I wrote a story on the big win for Cyclone Fanatic and the Cedar Rapids Gazette that can be found here and here.
Also, ISU’s men clobbered Oklahoma State later on Saturday, and my story on that can be found here and here.
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